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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoJonathan Quilter | DispatchEric Carrico of Grove City takes suboxone to help fight his heroin addiction. Carrico was at a news conference where U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown discussed proposed legislation on treatment for addicts.

In the war against heroin raging in Marion County, Dr. Mark Piacentini doesn’t think he’s
winning.

“I’m alone, and I need help,” Piacentini said. “I have five people call a day (for treatment),
and I have no room for them.”

His small medical practice is barely touching the estimated 4,000 to 8,000 addicted people in
Marion County who need treatment, Piacentini said. At times, he’s had a waiting list of 200 to 300
people.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown wants to help Piacentini and medical professionals by passing the
Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act, federal legislation that would allow health-care
providers to offer more people medically assisted treatment for heroin addiction. Federal law now
limits doctors to 30 patients for medically assisted treatment (100 after the first year). Brown’s
bill would immediately boost it to 100 patients with expansion possible beyond that. Certified
nurse practitioners could also provide treatment.

While Ohio has made a dent in the abuse of narcotic painkillers, heroin addiction is rising,
with deadly consequences. There were a record 1,914 drug-overdose deaths in Ohio in 2012.
Meanwhile, treatment is limited.

“We’ve got a problem in Ohio when it’s easier to get heroin than to get treatment,” Brown said
yesterday at a news conference at the Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Board of Franklin County.
Brown’s proposal has five co-sponsors, all fellow Democrats; a companion bill has not yet been
introduced in the U.S. House.

Suboxone, the drug most often used to treat heroin addiction, was approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration in 2002. Suboxone effectively reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings that
often drive users back to heroin. Studies show the success rate for addicts kicking the habit using
medication is twice as high as with other methods.

So far, it’s working for Eric Carrico, a Grove City man who got hooked on pain pills and moved
on to heroin about seven years ago.

“I lost everything,” Carrico said. “I was homeless, eating out of Dumpsters, begging for money
on the street.”

Carrico said he’s gotten straight with the help of Maryhaven, a Columbus treatment center, and
suboxone, which he’s been taking for two years. Now, he has a job, an apartment and an 8-month-old
son.

“If I hadn’t gone through Maryhaven, I’d either be dead or in jail,” he said.

In a related development, a new state law effective Sept. 17 will require a parent or guardian
to sign a consent form before a doctor can give opioid painkillers to a juvenile. House Bill 314
was approved by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. John Kasich earlier this year.

State Rep. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, the bill’s sponsor, said it emphasizes the parents’
primary role in their children’s health.

She said a youngster “might not even know that they can become addicted to something the doctor
prescribes for them.”

The “Start Talking” consent form must be signed by a parent or guardian in 48 hours after the
drugs are prescribed.